Dark, So Dark
by AngstyAphrodite
Summary: Toph lived in the darkness, literally and not. She finds her her eyes in the earth, and her light in the Avatar.


AN: I love Toph and I don't want you to see this as her feeling weak. She just feels kind of lost, and that makes her uncomfortable. This was written before Legend of Korra, and I am glad to see she found someone. Okay that is all. Enjoy and please review!

She lived in the dark. Granted she was blind, and that's how her world is, in the technical sense. She was viewed as weak when she was young, and needed to be taken care of, protected, over protected. She had found her freedom, her light, in the ground. Her earth bending skills gave her eyes, and she, in her mind at least, ceased to be weak. Her parents weren't the same way, and she found her light once again in the ground. Underground fighting with a bunch of sweaty, overgrown men was her new world of freedom. Fighting relieved the stress of being over pampered, possibly being over loved, and she reveled in this once unknown glory and freedom. She had no one to share this new joy with though, and thus her world remained dark.

This fighter, this bitter girl who was friendless, became a teacher, a teacher for some pacifist airhead. Suddenly in a short matter of time, she was respected as an earthbending master and had friends, friends who viewed her as anything but weak. The water siblings were easy to befriend, sure the boy could say the stupidest things and the girl could be the bossiest mom in the universe, but in the end they all got along well. However the air boy was a pansy and it took every ounce of her being not to crush him with an avalanche of rocks because he could be so slow and just, just way too nice for her taste. Well that's what she thought in the beginning. Soon she found a source of light in the dark world they all lived in.

The air boy would save the world, or so they said. Some days she saw, figuratively of course, the potential that he had, and other days, the days he giggled like a toddler, a feeling of dread filled her. How could this pacifist, child like boy save the world, and so she trained him harder. She yelled and screamed, Twinkle Toes, for he walked too lightly and so how could he stand his ground against the enemy. He took it all in stride though, never yelling back, and she worried about his passion. But one day he got it; he just understood and she finally saw the hope for the nations, her friend, the Avatar.

She started to notice little things around the camp that she had not noticed before, now that her attention did not always have to be on training the bald one. She still stayed focused on him though, and that's when she learned his secret. At first she thought it was strange, and maybe he just felt uncomfortable talking with girls. Through the ground she could feel his heartbeat pick up, if, and only if he was talking to the waterbender. She had laughed to herself when she first discovered his little secret; she decided not to tell him that the girl did not feel the same, for her heartbeat remained steady. She thought it would do him some good to get his heartbroken, toughen him up a little. After her discovery though, her attitude towards the boy shifted a bit. It simply rubbed her the wrong way whenever he chose the other girl over her, and she felt the need to, once again, bury him under rocks, lots and lots of rocks. She was confused, which was evident through her even shorter fuse, and in this uncharted territory her world went dark.

She realized one night, the lights in her head nearly blinding her with the knowledge, she liked the airhead. She shot up from her sleeping mat, and quickly left camp, making sure to wake none of the occupants. When she had walked nearly half a mile, she began to bend the earth, forming rocks, which she would then hurl in random directions, and she stomped leaving huge footprints in the ground. She grumbled to herself, throwing more rocks and secretly hoping one would land on the boy. This feeling of…she didn't even know what it was, but it was an unwelcomed presence; she felt weak. So in that dark night she tossed and chucked chunks of the earth everywhere, simply trying to lose that feeling, to find a light, and to lose the oppressing darkness that accompanied this crush, on the pansy, the Avatar.

From then on she studied her friend, who had claimed the boy's heart. The waterbender took care of him, made sure he was fed, well rested, and was learning his role. The waterbender never challenged him, and pretty much let him be himself, even though his person wasn't that great, at least that's what the earthbender thought, no one could honestly be that happy all the time. She pushed him harder, taking her anger out on him; it wasn't his fault, well who was she kidding of course it was his fault. She wanted to know why the waterbender was so much better than her. She, as his earthbending master, pushed him to be better, to become stronger, and this other girl spoiled him. That relationship would never work out well; at least that's what she told herself when throwing rocks at statues she had made in the likeness of both the boy and girl. He wanted someone soft, even though she knew he needed someone tough, but there really was no hope, and it was dark, so dark.

Twinkle Toes saved the world which didn't surprise her in the end; of course when she had found out how, she nearly puked and had to fight the strong urge to crush him between two large boulders. Finally the nations saw a light, the bright shining Avatar, accompanied by his beaming girl and a new fire lord. The people of all nations were rid of the dark, no longer fearing the firebenders, and filled with what had once been a long lost hope. They had all found the light, except her, she remained in the dark.

It was so dark afterwards, so very dark. After the war everyone had something, or someone. The firebender had a new nation to rule, peace to make, and a creepy non-emotional girlfriend to return too. Boomerang boy had a nation to return too, a father to reunite with, and an ass kicking girlfriend who would always have his back. The airbender had peace to keep, more lessons to learn, and a mother like figure to marry, which she found slightly disturbing but she never mentioned it. The waterbender became a beloved figure, her sweetness appealing to all people, especially the airhead; she had a savior to marry and the role of bringing back a lost nation. The earthbender, she had nothing, no one. She returned to her home land, and taught others of her new skill, metal bending. This teaching gig was getting old to her though, she only ever liked one pupil, despite her many threats to kill him. She continued to teach though, her anger being pushed into her training, her screaming and yelling at new recruits, an outlet for an unrequited love. The boy soon had a son, and her world was dark and she was weak, all light snuffed out by the one and only Avatar.


End file.
